On the verge of a great change
A Letter from the Editor about going digital and about a potential solution for those who depend on the printed Record for their connection with the community.
By Geoffrey Gevalt
Managing Editor
When I was a young boy I devoured Red Smith’s sports column in the New York Herald Tribune. In fact, his column was how I learned to read. Red is long gone and so is the Tribune. Sadly, so are many newspapers and the print versions of newspapers throughout the country.
I love print. I love the tactile sensation of turning a page and finding a surprise — a story I might not have read otherwise. I love the permanence of print. As a longtime journalist, I loved hearing — and feeling — the loud vibration of the presses when they started up printing the next day’s papers.
So I empathize with those of you lamenting the decision to end the print edition of The Record. I’ve heard from many of you – and I thank you for reaching out – and I understand your enthusiasm and your concerns. Of particular worry to us are older readers who don’t do email and don’t do computers. One elderly woman told me that not having the paper arrive in her mailbox will make her feel more isolated.
And that’s what a newspaper does, or should do: keep you connected to the community. We don’t want her — and others like her — to feel isolated.
So we have an idea, one that the woman thought was a pretty good alternative.
As many of you know every Monday morning we email The Weekly Record to subscribers; it is a summary of the major news of the previous week, with links to the full stories we’ve posted on here on hinesburgrecord.org, as well as photos and highlights of upcoming meetings and happenings. Overnight, we have turned a monthly newspaper into an online weekly.
Our print idea is this: We’ll consolidate four weeks of those newsletters into a two-page mailing that we’ll send to those without digital connections or the ability to go online.
Are you someone who doesn’t do email or don’t have access to a computer? Would you like to be on the mailing list? If so, call me at (802) 482-5625 and leave your name, phone number and mailing address.
This service will be free — our news will always be free — even though it will cost us 75 cents for the postage, 50 cents for the paper and copying and a couple hours of someone’s time. We hope a donor or donors will step forward to fund it for us. (If you’re interested in donating for this, get in touch. Click here to email me.)
I realize this is not a perfect solution, but the case for ending the printed edition is still very strong.
I believe a news organization should be providing accurate, unbiased and thorough news, stories and information in a timely fashion. If we are to serve you, the residents of Hinesburg, we must be able to get you the information you need in a timeframe you can use it with a thoroughness and accuracy that is helpful. To me, producing a monthly newspaper with deadlines two weeks in advance that is often delivered two weeks late is an anachronism, particularly when most people get their news from the Web or from their email.
We have been been heartened by the response since our announcement. This, our new website which was launched this summer, now receives an average of 425 visits a day. Our subscription list has grown to 1,235, a gain of nearly 400 new subscribers since September. Word of mouth is driving readership as well; our Monday morning newsletter now averages 1,400 readers.
And we’ve done all this with the same skeletal staffing: Cathy Ryan, our news editor, handles incoming inquiries, letters to the editor, press releases and web editing duties; Laurie Wedge proofreads content both in the paper and on the web; and Mary Jo Brace, daughter of the founder of this news organization, continues to handle bookkeeping and is instrumental in gathering ad and revenue data for our transition to all-digital. Each of them gets a small stipend.
And then there’s me. I have had 33 years experience as a professional journalist with some of the best newspapers in the country that have won the most prestigious journalistic awards in the nation. I do this for free. And if The Record is successful in becoming a vital part of your lives, this will certainly be the most satisfying project of my life.
But no one puts out the news alone. The three folks I named above have been instrumental in keeping this paper going. As has Kevin Lewis, who recently departed; it was Kevin who was the driving force to keep The Record in print, and we all appreciate what he has done over several decades of work.
In addition, countless people send in their news about their organizations. We are starting to get more letters. We have some new people working on stories. It is a beginning. Or, rather, a return to the old days when 20 or so folks helped put out each of the issues of The Record.
We need your help, too. We need writers and photographers and artists and digital media creators. We need people rattling our cages about something we don’t know about, but should. We need people speaking up about issues that are important. We want your voices here. We want this to be your nonprofit news organization.
I encourage you to reach out to me. I ask you to reach out to me. Tell us what you think. Tell us if you can help.
And for all of you who haven’t yet subscribed here … do it; don’t be bashful. Click the subscribe button in the upper right or below this paragraph. You will get the weekly news summary every Monday morning. You will get full access to all content which is updated often. You can comment on the stories and, down the road, you will be able to participate in mini-polls and civil, respectful discussions on major issues affecting the town. Click here for details on signing up or phone me or send me an email and I’ll sign you up.
I leave you with this reaction from someone who discovered that The Record is now covering news in real time:
“Thank you for the informative and accurate information about the bond vote in this morning’s Record. All the other articles were very interesting, too. You have transformed The Record. It is now a current, interesting and informative publication. I now very much appreciate it as a source for current Hinesburg news, coverage of all the major town departments and the local school district and schools, as well as a thorough treatment of upcoming events, meetings and gatherings of interest.”
We have a lot of work ahead of us to reach our vision. But we hope that soon you will feel The Hinesburg Record is your news organization. We have not forgotten our roots and our purpose. We just want to get better.
Geoffrey Gevalt is managing editor of The Record. He can be reached at editor@hinesburgrecord.org.